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Contact:
J. Roy Cannon, Delaware Media Representative
(302) 738-9963 jcannon11@comcast.net
Karen Lienau, National Representative to the Green Party of the United
States
(302) 633-9439 klienau@MinistryOfCaring.org
Newark - - Vivian Houghton, Green Party Candidate for Delaware Attorney
General, denounced the tepid response by the Delaware Department of
Natural Resources (DNREC) to the release of massive amounts of sulfur
dioxide into the air in Claymont. "DNREC has a history of failing
to move decisively to curtail pollution by Delaware's large chemical
companies," Houghton stated, then added, "Sunoco should cease
operations until it can dispose of its chemical wastes without causing
health-threatening air pollution. Delaware needs an Attorney General who
will be pro-active in enforcing environmental laws.
Houghton's comments were made in response to last Fridayıs (4/5/02)
General Chemical's processing boiler break down leaving it unable to
process sulfur-containing waste from the Sunoco oil refinery. Sunoco,
rather than shutting down, continued to operate and resorted to burning
the waste, releasing approximately 20 tons of sulfur dioxide each day
into the air. The air pollution continues today.
Houghton insisted that DNREC's oversight failure with regard to this
issue is part of a state trend in which both the criminal justice system
and agencies designed to serve residents display an obsequiousness to
the powerful. In this context she cited DNREC's softness on Delaware's
polluters as similar to the criminal justice system's relative coziness
with white-collar criminals, in contrast to its strictness with less
favored sections of the population - for instance, the African-American
community, low-income whites, etc. "Just as Sunoco should cease
operations until it can safely dispose of its chemical waste,"
Houghton said, "so the criminal justice system should investigate
its internal biases of being so quick to hand out tougher sentences to
minorities and low-income people than to better-off
constituencies."
Cornelius "C" Deleston, a General Motors employee at
Wilmington's Saturn plant, echoed this concern. "It's Sunoco one
day, another company the next. They pay fines but the fines are so small
that the companies keep right on polluting. On the other hand, when
these companies lay off workers, they do to the workers what DNREC
refuses to do to the polluters: get rid of them. Tell me, what's fair
about that? While people suffer, the companies do whatever they want.
They violate their workers' trust, fire or lay off people, and poison
our air and water."
³The Delaware Clean Air Council should be commended for its plans to
sue Sunoco, but if DNREC was doing its job a citizen suit would not be
needed, ³ commented Alan Muller, Executive Director of Green Delaware,
an activist group. Green Delaware plans to bring a suit against the City
of Wilmington for its failure to warn citizens about the dumping of raw
sewage into the Brandywine and Christina Rivers. ³We need to strengthen
our environmental laws and enforce the laws now on the books,² stated
Muller. ³The Attorney Generalıs job is to enforce Delaware laws on
behalf of the people of our state, not special interests. The people of
Delaware are suffering unnecessarily from cancer and other serious
illnesses brought on by pollution."
Nick Galasso, a Green Party member, expressed similar sentiments. "DNREC,"
he remarked, "is pretty good at going after the small individual
but when it comes to the big polluters like Sunoco, Motiva, and Indian
River Power Plant, DNREC's record of law enforcement is dismal. Vivian
Houghton will change this. Whether as polluters, financial
sleight-of-hand artists, or centers of anti-worker planning, Delaware's
corporations will be held accountable for their actions."
Houghton will formally announce her candidacy for Attorney General on
4/29/02 in a series of statewide press conferences.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Robert Bohm, Coordinator
Committee to Elect Vivian Houghton Attorney General
(302) 239-2572 rebsalerno@msn.com
Green Party of Delaware
http://www.gpde.org
Green Party of the United States
http://greenpartyus.org
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